ANNAPOLIS - As Maples Leafs coach Mike Babcock left the podium at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium Friday afternoon, the day before their Stadium Series game against the Capitals, his final, jovial words were, "Hang onto your hat."

Good advice for anyone in the Washington-Baltimore metropolitan area that day, as winds of 60 mph and more continued to batter the region. (Just before noon, it hit 49 mph in Annapolis.) It's also wise words for those attending Saturday's outdoor game at the U.S. Naval Academy, because the chances of playing the game remained up in the air.

The "exceptional" wind storm, as the National Weather Service described it, was forecast to continue until Saturday morning. NHL officials expect the game (to be broadcast nationally in the United States and Canada) to start as planned at 8 p.m. ET, but Friday's scheduled practices at the stadium for both teams was canceled the day before, and both practiced indoors. Their pre-game skate at the stadium remained on schedule, but that was subject to the weather, too.

All the surrounding salutes, ceremonies and other pageantry are also riding on the weather. That includes the Olympic gold-medaling winning men's curling and women's hockey teams being honored before and during the game, and 500 Naval Academy midshipmen marching onto the field pre-game, as is traditional in the Army-Navy football game.

Despite high winds hitting the Annapolis area today, the NHL continues preparations for tomorrow's #StadiumSeries game. The League is monitoring conditions and as of now, the game is still scheduled for 8 p.m. ET.

The only NHL outdoor game (not including one dome game) adversely affected by weather was the 2011 Winter Classic in Pittsburgh, which was delayed from afternoon to evening because of warm temperatures and rain. Albeit unintentionally, that was the first outdoor series game to be played in prime time, when the Leafs and Caps are scheduled to play.

Arctic conditions are routine for this game; game-time temperature for the Senators-Canadiens game in Ottawa in December was 12 degrees. Playing in a college stadium is also not unprecedented, as the Leafs themselves played at Michigan Stadium in 2014. Both teams have played outdoor games fairly recently, the Leafs just over a year ago in Toronto.

Yet, while the players and coaches downplayed it, repeating that it would be an advantage or disadvantage for both teams, the wind had become a more towering figure in this game than Alex Ovechkin. Just walking from the bus to their stadium locker room was a brisk adventure for the Leafs.

"It seemed like some good wind in that tunnel,'' Leafs goalie Frederik Andersen said. "We don't know if it'll be like that tomorrow.''

Andersen was the winning goalie in their outdoor game last season over the Red Wings, and, he said, the wind then was noticeable and affected how he dressed for the game. That, though, was nothing compared to what was whipping around Maryland Friday … and it was the only real experience with wind he could recall in his entire hockey-playing life.

"That's it, I don't have too many examples for you,'' he said. "We never really skated on the ponds back home.''

"Tomorrow, we're going get up, there's going to be no wind and we're going to have a good game tomorrow night." - Mike Babcock

Capitals center Evgeny Kuznetsov is one of the few players on either team with real memories of playing outside growing up ... and it's a fonder memory than of his times doing it in the NHL.

"it's pretty special when you're a kid; when you play outside, you never get tired, and you can play five or six hours in a row,'' he said after the Caps practiced at their suburban Virginia facility Friday. He laughed, then added, "Right now, if you play 20-25 minutes, you get tired. That's a long time.''

"I think as you get used to it, as you keep kind of adapting, your mind kind of sets on the game,'' Caps winger Tom Wilson said. "When you first get out there you go, 'Wow, this feels different,' but as the game goes on, you focus on playing. You focus on systems, you focus on putting the puck in the back of the net, you focus on winning. So you don't think as much about what's going on around you.''

With the possibility looming of not testing the conditions on the actual rink until before Saturday night's game, Leafs defenseman Morgan Rielly recommended just rolling with the punches.

"I don't know if there is a way (to prepare),'' he said. "You just gotta go out there. You play, you deal with the weather. It comes with the territory when you play these outdoor games.''

Babcock, for his part, chose to project pleasant playing conditions out into the universe.

"Tomorrow we're going get up, there's gonna be no wind, we're gonna have a good game tomorrow night,'' he said nonchalantly. "That's just the way it's gonna be. These things have a way of working themselves out just fine.''